External USB-HD in full speed

Probably the first reason to create this blog. Something that has bugging me for quite a while. Solving linux problems, and forgetting about them, instead of sharing how to solve them.

I bought an external usb-harddisc Trekstor Datastation maxi m.u. On amazon.com it said it supports USB 2.0. I plugged it into my machine, and it was recognized and mounted immediately. But while copying some data onto it, I saw the transfer rates where 5 MBit/s which is really slow for a USB 2.0 connection. So I checked the connection to find out it's using USB 2.0. To find out about what protocol your usb devices are using, you can use usbview. There should be EHCI host controller(s) and in the drop down menu you should be able to find your harddisc. EHCI modules need to be loaded.

lsmod | grep ehci

will tell you.

So but if it's using USB 2.0 why are the transfer rates so low? The answer is because it's using a sync-ed connection, that is standard mount option in many current distributions. A

mount -o async /dev/sda1 /media/mountpoint

solved the problem. To not have to mount the HD every time you boot manually, the following entry in /etc/fstab will help.

/dev/sda1 /media/disk-1 ext3 async 0 0

Important is the 0 at the end of the line! It'll tell the computer to continue booting even if it's not hooked or if it would encounter any problems with the HD. You'll also need to replace ext3 by the file system you are using.

veggy-pan with rice

Heyho,
This is the first post in my probably not too often used Blog. I'm a complete beginners cook. But I'll post the things I liked. I think it'd be great if you use the comment section to write about your experiences with posted recipes (maybe changes you made) and other solutions in linux posts.

Veggy pan with rice.

Ingredients:
Salt, Carrots, sweet corn, peas, cauliflower, broccoli, bell pepper, kohlrabi, zucchini, cashew nuts, orange/pineapple.

Chop carrots, broccoli, kohlrabi, bell pepper, zucchini and cauliflower. Fry them slowly in the pan. Carrots and kohlrabi first - they take longer, add broccoli, bell pepper, zucchini and cauliflower in a little later.
Chop orange in small pieces (1-2 cm long).
Add peas and sweet corn to the other vegetables.
While it's still frying slowly, fry cashew nuts in another pan. (If you use a little oil, it'll work better). Just do it very shortly, they get burned fast. Add them to the vegetables. Add in a dash of salt. When the vegetables are ready, add the chopped orange. About one more minute and it's done.
Serve it with some rice, that matches well.

Some small remarks:
1. You can use pineapple instead of orange. Tasted good as well. It is different though! Thanks to Steffi (where I had it with pineapple).
2. I personally like it in this case when the rice is everything but grainy. To get that, either use more water, or put a lid on it while it's cooked.
3. Of course you can add all sorts of other veggies.